Photo has been used for illustrative purposes.

Mona Al Badawi, Staff Reporter

Al Ain Court on Monday heard a case in which 19 vehicles were stolen from an auto showroom and the guard at the scene was killed.

The public prosecution charged five young men of various Arab nationalities with premeditated murder to two of them and accomplicity to the other three.

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According to the official records, the anti-economic crime section of Al Ain Criminal Investigations Department received a tip-off about a gang for stealing vehicles. A warrant was immediately issued by the public prosecution to arrest the perpetrators.

A meeting was arranged with the perpetrators after an undercover agent posed a buyer. On the day of delivery, the police went to the site indicated by the undercover agent and a trap was set to arrest the perpetrators. The undercover agent told the police that an Asian person was in a small room in the auto showroom. When the door of the room was opened, the Asian guard tied with a rope was found between the drawers and the safe. As the Asian guard did not respond to the police’s calls, the operations room and competent authorities were notified accordingly.

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The public prosecution investigations showed that the first and second defendants had intended to assault the victim to make it easy for them and the other defendants to steal the vehicles. Further investigations showed that two of the other defendants were staying illegally in the UAE. The forensic doctor’s report showed that the guard was killed because he could not breathe after an  adhesive tape was wrapped compressively and for several layers around his nose and mouth.

The first defendant confessed to the theft charge, noting that one of the defendants lured him into stealing the vehicles owning to the huge amounts of money they would gain.  During the court session, the defendants and their proxies as well as the victim’s parents appeared in the court.

According to legal consultant Ahmed Mohammed Bashir, the defendants did not have the intention to kill the victim but were surprised to find him in the scene. So, they had to tie him and put the adhesive tape around his mouth and nose and this led to his death.